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Hold the option key down after Boot Camp Assistant prompts you to start the installation and reboots the machine. This should allow you to select the disc to boot from and should include your external drive.

Liquid and computers don't mix. It might seem simple, but we see an incredible amount of people post here about spills. Keep drinks and other liquids away from your expensive electronics!

Hold the option key down after Boot Camp Assistant prompts you to start the installation and reboots the machine. This should allow you to select the disc to boot from and should include your external drive.

thanks but .....
is not working like this.
the external drive i can see when i am on mac os leopard, but when reboot and hold option key, the imac can NOT show this external drive.

only show 2 drives.
1. the mac drive, and 2. the windows xp drive (can not start)

how can i reinstall xp (new copy) from external drive or usb drive please ?
i really need this help !

I don't believe you can install XP from an external CD or DVD drive. The reason is because OS X will not recognize the external USB DVD drive with an XP disk as a bootable device and refuse to boot from it. Your best bet is to either replace the defective internal drive or have it repaired.

This same problem is driving me crazy. I am a new member and want to start a thread but not sure how so joining this one seeemed my only option.

I have tried and tried to instale Vista Ultimate on to my new MacBook, I have successfully re-partioned the HD many times and each time my MB restarts to install Windows, the screen goes grey then flashes as if something's going wrong then I see the error message 'No bootable device-- insert boot disk and press any key'.

Every time! The copy of windows is fine, it works on pcs. I don't understand what's happening. I can still access Mac os x by holding down alt as I start up the machine. Also it does recognise windows, when I hold alt it gives me option whether to start up in mac or windows (represented by a disk image).

Same problem. iMac 20". External LaCie DVD drive because the internal has failed. Run Bootcamp and when you want to proceed with the installation you get nothing but a white screen.

And... the same answer as given before. You can't install Windows using the Boot Camp assistant and an external optical drive. Won't work with a flash drive either. Replace or repair the internal optical drive.

And... the same answer as given before. You can't install Windows using the Boot Camp assistant and an external optical drive. Won't work with a flash drive either. Replace or repair the internal optical drive.

Regards.

Well what if I dont want to waste money on a 3 year old laptop. Leopard installed fine from my external DVD writer, why not Windows? What possible difference could there be?

I'm new here... and I'd just like to say that you CAN install Windows XP from an external USB DVD drive. (I've done it)

The steps I used are as follows:
1 - Use the Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition (it'll be FAT32)
2 - Download and install the program: rEFIt
3 - Reboot your Mac TWICE
4 - On the SECOND reboot, a screen similar to the one you'd get if you were holding option down on boot. But unlike the screen you get when you hold option down, this time your external CD/DVD drive will show up. If you have a Windows XP install disk inserted you'll have the option to boot from that.
5 - Install Windows normally. If your partition is over 32GB then you'll want to reformat the partition to NTFS.
6 - Once installed, install Apple Drivers
7- Enjoy that you now have a duel booting machine. The only real difference I've noticed is that when you turn on the computer you'll have to pick what OS you want to boot, instead of it auto booting Mac. I have a feeling this might be able to be changed, but I like it, so I haven't tried.

Like I said, I'm new to the forums and I just kind of stumbled across this thread and replied. Sorry if I'm grave digging or restating something someone already posted on another thread.

I'm new here... and I'd just like to say that you CAN install Windows XP from an external USB DVD drive. (I've done it)

The steps I used are as follows:
1 - Use the Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition (it'll be FAT32)
2 - Download and install the program: rEFIt
3 - Reboot your Mac TWICE
4 - On the SECOND reboot, a screen similar to the one you'd get if you were holding option down on boot. But unlike the screen you get when you hold option down, this time your external CD/DVD drive will show up. If you have a Windows XP install disk inserted you'll have the option to boot from that.
5 - Install Windows normally. If your partition is over 32GB then you'll want to reformat the partition to NTFS.
6 - Once installed, install Apple Drivers
7- Enjoy that you now have a duel booting machine. The only real difference I've noticed is that when you turn on the computer you'll have to pick what OS you want to boot, instead of it auto booting Mac. I have a feeling this might be able to be changed, but I like it, so I haven't tried.

Like I said, I'm new to the forums and I just kind of stumbled across this thread and replied. Sorry if I'm grave digging or restating something someone already posted on another thread.

Hey. This fix almost worked for me. I got rEFIx installaed, booted twice, and got the refit menu to work, no problems here.

My problem now i that i don't get the external dvd as an option to boot from. This i what i get:
1. Boot from MAC OS X from Macintosh HD
2. Boot legacy OS from HD

and then ofcause the 5 points underneath with shutdown, reboot, etc.

The externmal dvd drive showes perfectly when im in MAC OS, and works perfectly when i install MAC OS from it.

The only time I've not seen my external drive show up to boot from with refit, is when the disc that's in the drive isn't actually bootable.

Thanks for posting the above method. Many folks have used rEFIt but primarily to setup a triple boot scenario. I wonder if your method will work with an upgrade version of Windows? It seems as if it would since the only reason one can not use an upgrade version with the standard method of installing Windows is because of the Mac slot drive. No way to mechanically eject the disk.

With an external DVD drive, the Windows install upgrade disk can be ejected and proof of previous version can be inserted so as to allow the Windows installation to proceed.